Cursed Maidens
by Animefreak99-06
Summary: A nem enemy older than Arago emerges. The Troopers, former Masho and Kayura must now team up with the only ones skilled enough to stop the new enemy. These five young women are the Cursed Maidens. Story is being revised.
1. Chapter 1

The Cursed Maidens

Chapter 1

It happened again. He had the same dream. Each time the dream would become longer. But it always began the same. He would find himself surrounded by darkness, turn around to the only dimly lit area within his line of view, then he would see and hear a furious fight going on (such as a metal sword hitting metal armor, he and his friends had come to know the sound very well in the fight against Arago, the Emperor of Doom.)

He would turn and see what looked like a powerful female demon surrounded by, to his apparent shock, five human women. Each woman had her features hidden by the shadows of this unusual darkness. Although he couldn't see their faces, he had a feeling deep in the pit of his stomach that he would soon meet them face to face. But that's beside the point. He returned to watch the fight, as he knew these women could hold their own against the demon (well that and when he first tried to help them he felt himself being restrained by invisible binds.)

Each of the five in his dream had a different way of fighting. One of them, who had long hair was using a no-datchi sword. Another, who had the shortest hair, was projecting some sort of barrier, and then after using the barrier to shield herself from the demon's attacks, would use telekinesis to move a very sharp object at the demon. A third was using a form of Kung-Fu on her opponent that, looked the same as the Kung-Fu Shuu would often use when fighting. And then swing an object, that looked to him, like a hand mirror to ward off said demon. A fourth with medium length hair was using small throwing knives to keep the creature away.

The demon would then throw an energy attack at this woman, but she held her left hand, palm facing the woman's face, and somehow absorb the attack. The left hand extended all the way in front of her, and the attack would be thrown back at the demon causing her to scream. (This scream and the striking of metal on metal were the only sounds he could hear in the dream oddly.) The fifth and final woman was the only one not wearing normal clothes. Instead she was wearing a kimono, but this kimono, instead of being narrow around the legs was big and poofy at the bottom. It was a kimono of that he was sure, but its design was like the dress lady Kayura was wearing the last time he saw her. This woman kept getting attacked, but to his ever growing shock, every time she was hurt, her wounds would heal almost instantly. Within the time he saw all this, the demon had been defeated. Just like every time he had this dream. And just as the dream was fading, as it had every time he had this dream. The demon reappeared in front of him. _Now this is new,_ he thought to himself.

He saw the demon's face clearly this time, and even though he thought that she was pretty, he knew, without a doubt that she was evil. She smiled and revealed what looked like vampire teeth. Then she spoke.

"I know who you are little boy. You are the only offspring of _that _woman. Well, I won't hurt you, if you tell me what I want to know." She reached out her hand and placed it on his left shoulder, and then proceded to dig her very sharp nails into his shoulder, somehow causing him more pain then any injury Arago had inflicted upon him. He had closed his left eye, and was now gritting his teeth to keep from yelling in pain. She spoke again.

"You know that I can kill you if I wanted to. I can also keep you away from your precious _yoroi orb_. So don't even think about resisting me." At this point the former Samurai Trooper reopened his left eye, but still had his teeth gritted before opening his mouth to speak.

"How do you know about the yoroi orb? And just who are you anyway?", He tried unsuccessfully to wrench free from her grip. She giggled before tightening her grip, this time drawing blood. He felt totally paralyzed. He also felt as if he couldn't breathe.

"I know of the nine yoroi orbs, because I at one time gave birth to the human who grow up, die and become the demon you called Arago." The now injured Samurai Trooper gasped. Arago had been human? He couldn't believe it. Then the demon continued, "And as for who I am... Well, you can just call me Shakalli. Your new worst nightmare, Sanada Ryo."

"Ahhh!", Ryo screamed as he quickly bolted forward in his bed. His head almost hit his knees. He spent a couple minutes gasping for breath, staring at his blanket. Then he noticed a small part of the blanket was being dripped on. And his left shoulder was throbbing. He sat upright and looked at his shoulder. And saw that it really was bleeding.

"That wasn't just a dream, that was a warning." Still sitting his bed, he turned toward the clock in the bedroom of his apartment. It read 2:35. He knew he would never be able to fall back asleep. So he had to stay awake until a reasonable hour in which he could call his fellow Troopers. In the three and a half years he had known them since first meeting them, he had learned that if he had a 'premonition dream' he had to tell the others instead of act on it alone. As he stood up and headed the the bathroom to get some peroxide, gauze, and tape to apply to his wound, his phone rang. He turned around and headed towards it. And picked up the reciever.

"Moshi moshi!", he replied in a sleepy voice.

"Ryo, are you okay? I'm sorry to call this early, but I had a bad feeling something was wrong. So I just had to call."

"I'm fine Shin.", he was relieved to talk to one of his friends. He quickly told Shin he needed to talk to he immediately, and hung up a minute later. He went to tend to his shoulder, and later admitted Shin. It was a good thing tomorrow was Sunday, because he didn't feel like going to school the next morning. After Shin had taken a seat at Ryo's kitchen table, he looked at Ryo, who seated himself across from him.

"Shin, I really need to tell you and the others something important." Ryo braced himself to fill Shin in on what had happened in his dreams. He would have to tell the others tomorrow.

"Shin, we have a new enemy!"


	2. Chapter 2

The Cursed Maidens

Chapter 2

The next morning, after calling Rei Faun Shuu, Hashiba Touma, and Date Seiji and telling them what he had dreamt, Ryo was tired. After hearing about the dream, Shin had decided to spend the night. He had been studying and doing homework with little sleep for two weeks straight, so he was tired too. Ryo, Shin and the others decided to meet up with each other around Tuesday in Tokyo and afterwords, Shin fell asleep on the couch in the living room. Meanwhile Ryo had a feeling that they were going to need Lady Kayura and the former Masho to help them. _Now, how do we get in touch with the others,_ Ryo thought to himself.

_You don't need to get in touch with us, Rekka._ a calm female voice said to him. No sooner had he heard the words, then a shimmering sound was heard and four new people were in Ryo's apartment. Ryo, who was coming back to his bedroom from the kitchen with a drink, was more than a little surprised by there sudden appearance and, startled as he was, dropped his drink with a loud **Thunk**. His eyes almost popped out of his head and Shin, after a rude awakening, ran to Ryo to see what had disturbed him so.

"Well, if it isn't Suiko. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" spoke Naaza, The former Masho of Venom. Shin was more than a upset, so he only stared. It was Lady Kayura who spoke up next.

"You know once that dries, that spot will be sticky, don't you Rekka?" she said addressing the spilled drink at Ryo's feet. Still dazed, he looked down at his feet only to realize that he must look like a complete idiot to the four people in his bedroom and moaned. He looked up to see four amused faces looking at him. He cleared his throat, and spoke.

"Shin, could you please get me some paper towels?" he glanced over his shoulder to see his friend walking slowly towards the kitchen. He turned back to Lady Kayura, Naaza, Rajura, and Anubisu and just had to ask them something.

"_What the heck_, are the four of _you_ doing in _my_ apartment? Without _any_ kind of announcement or warning?", the four took a step back and looked at him like he was about to attack them. He saw the looks on their faces, and couldn't help but sigh. Shin returned with the paper towels, but stopped a few feet behind Ryo so as to explain to the others why he had snapped.

"I'm sorry." another sigh, and then,"I didn't mean to do that. I didn't sleep well last night, woke up very early this morning, I still haven't really had a chance to wake up yet, and then you just appeared. Out of nowhere and, you just caught me off guard." he turned to Shin, took the paper towels, stooped down, and proceded to clean up his spilled drink. He picked up the can and found it was still a third full. He heard soft chimes and looked up to see Lady Kayura offering him a hand up. She tilted her head to the right and said in herquiet voice,

"No, it is _we_ who are sorry. We _should_ have sent you a warning of our arrival." she laughed delicately and continued, " We understand why you are upset Rekka. No, I mean, Ryo. We didn't mean to disturb you and Suiko. I mean, Shin. Apology accepted?" she asked him as she helped him up. He returned her smile and then looked from her to Rajura, Naaza, and Anubisu.

"Only if you four can accept mine." The three looked at each other than at Kayura who nodded, then turned back o Ryo.

"Your apology is accepted. Recca no Ryo."stated Anubisu, the former Masho of Darkness.

"Good. Now we're all friends again. What a relief." Shin proudly declared before throwing his right arm around Ryo's neck and his left arm around Kayura's neck catching both of them off guard and causing Kayura to look at him. He smiled at the others and calmly told them, "I hope you guys can tell us just who this _youja_ is. Then maybe, all nine of us can figure out who those _women_ are." He was still looking at the Masho and could by the looks on their faces they didn't know who Suiko no Shin was talking about.

He heard Ryo sigh heavyly. As he turned his attention to Ryo, he encouragingly told the leader of the Samurai Troopers, "Well, how about that? You've got to tell everyone about your dream. _Again._" Ryo turned his head towards Shin and Shin had to remove his arms from around Ryo's and Kayura's necks. Shin had stoped smiling at this point and now had a look of mock fear upon his face. Putting his arms up in defense, took a couple steps back to get some distance between him and Ryo. Ryo had a look of pure rage in his eyes.

"Thanks for telling me something Icould already guess, Shin." Ryo really wasn't in the mood for this. He closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled, then turned his attention to his new guests.

"_Everyone, _make yourselves comfy. This could take awhile." he said as he lead everyone to the kitchen chairs. When everyone was seated he continued, "Well, for the past six nights, I've been having dreams of a strange battle. Five human women, with strange energies, fighting a female youja. Every night I dream the same thing. The five women beat the youja, but last night the youja appeared to me and talked to me. She told me her name is Shakalli. She knew about theyoroi orbs." at this point Rajura, former Masho of Illusions blurted out

"And just how in the world did she know about that? Only a few know about us and our armors."

"Uhhh. Well, that's where things get weird. She said that she was, at one time, the one who gave birth to the human, who later became Arago." At this, all four present who served under Arago let out a loud, collective gasp. Ryo took this opportunity to conclude his story.

"And she also said that she was my new worst enemy. When I woke up, I had an injury exactly like the one she gave me in my dream last night. And I've got the holes in my shirt to prove it. See?" he pointed to his shirt which definately had holes in it. Through the holes white gauze could be seen. Kayura stood up an walked over to Ryo. The rings of the shakujo in her right hand, jangled as she walked over.

"Ryo, may I see that injury? For some reason I sense something from it." Ryo nodded and removed his left arm from his shirt. He then proceded to remove the bandage to show it to Kayura. She switched the shakujo to her left hand and very, _very_ gently put the fingernails of her right hand on the marks of his shoulders. Sure enough they were caused by fingernails.

She held the shakujo to his shoulder and removed her right hand. The shakujo started to glow, causing everyone to shield their eyes with their hands. Kayura placed it on Ryo's shoulder and caused him to wince. A minute later, when the glowing stopped and everyone could remove their hands, the wound was healed. Kayura grinned slightly. Then said,

"For some unknown reason the shakujo knows this energy. I'm going to have to meditate on this. Oh! I can't believe I actually forgot the purpose of this intrusion." she sighed and shook her head before continuing, "We came here to tell you and the other Troopers of a new threat we have discovered in the outskirts of the Youjakai. Now that we've heard _your_ story, I think _this_ enemy is the one that _we_ speak of. The youja that was spotted in the outskirts was female. And her power is enough to rival Arago. There have also been reports of a few lower class youja have been entering the Ningenkai. And strangely enough, they started to appear in the Ningenkai six days ago. We need to gather everyone and tell them as soon as possible."

"We need to tell Nauste as well. After all she _is_ a member of this team too. And maybe she can house you guys. Everyone is coming to Tokyo to meet in two days. Ryo and I can tell the the meeting area has been changed, and we can gather at Nauste's house to share information." Shin said. Everyone looked at him for a few minutes to consider this information and Naaza wearyly replied,

"If she sees no problem with it, then we have a plan. Nee, Lady Kayura?"

"If she says yes, we would be in her debt." turning to Shin and then to Ryo, she said, "Could one of you call her and confirm this?"

"I'll call her right now to ask her myself." Ryo replied as he got up and went to the phone. After dialing the number and talking for a few minutes, he came back and delivered the good news to the others. Ryo decided to change shirtsbefore they left. They chose to leave right away and go on over to Nauste's. Two would go in Shin's car, the other two would go in Ryo's truck. As they left, Kayura stopped in her tracks and slightly looked around, like she was looking for something. When she saw nothing, she thought she had imagined things and walked out the door. Someone _had_ been watching her and the others though.

"Huh. Well, this makes things interesting. I only hope, that we can get along to destroy that youja witch." replied a young female voice. The voice that belongs to a young woman who is staring at the images of the meeting in the apartment of Sanada Ryo. The woman is kneeling down beside a lake. She is reading the images off the water. She stands up and the images disappear. It's daylight and while you can't see her face because of the shadow of the tree shes standing under, you can see that she's wearing a kimono. A kimono with a big, poofy skirt instead of a narrow skirt.

"Now at least they know that we exist. They just need to know who we are, why we fight Shakalli, and why we're called the 'Cursed Maidens'." she then walks away.


	3. Chapter 3

To all the readers out there, GOMEN NASAI. I forgot to put the disclaimer. So here it is. Disclaimer: I do not own the any of characters from Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. They are owned by Sunrise. I do however own the following characters: Shakalli, Sakura, Mara, Kasumi, Soo-Yung, Yui, Akira, Faie,and the 'Old Woman'. They are the only characters I own, _so far_. In later stories, this list _will_ grow. And thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed,and read and reviewed my story.

The Cursed Maidens

Chapter 3

After driving to Nauste's mansion, (it's too big to be a house) with Lady Kayura and the Masho, telling Nauste about everything that had happened, and Nauste agreeing to house the Masho (I'm just going to call the four of them 'Masho', instead of 'Kayura and the Masho', sorry I'm lazy.) two hours had passed and Shin and Ryo said goodbye to Nauste and left for their apartments. After all, they had to go to school the next day. That night Ryo dreamt of nothing, when he woke up, he had a very bad feeling about all of this.

Later that day, Shin was headed back to his apartment, carring his books, unaware that he was being watched by a young woman dressed in dark clothes. As he passed her, she rubbed a very beautiful black bracelet she was wearing, and walked out of the alley she had been standing in, to join the crowd that was walking the other way. (Shin was going left, she was going right.) When he got home, he called to see if Ryo had gotten home, and had to hold the receiver away from his ear because Ryo almost yelled at him.

"MOSHI MOSHI!", Ryo said very loudly and angerly.

"Ryo. Daijobu ka? What happened?", Shin asked cautiously once his hearing had returned. Ryo, upon hearing who had called, and realizing what he had just done calmed down and apologized.

"Shin. Gomen! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I had a bad day at school and I think my history teacher hates me. That's all."

"What? What do you mean your teacher hates you? Why would your teacher hate you?", Shin asked, his curiosity sparked.

"She told me she knew my mom when she was younger and said that I acted like she used to. Then she said that strongly disliked my mom's attitude. And after all that, she returned our test papers from Friday, and I know I got more than a 65 on that test. I just know I did." Ryo said, sounding upset and a little sad at the mention of his mother.

"So what are you saying, Ryo? She changed your answers to fail you? Come on now. She couldn't possibly be that mean.", Shin stated, although a little unsure of what he was saying. He had heard of teachers doing just that. Ryo went on to continue.

"Shin, I know you want to see the good in others, but I have proof right here on my test that proves I'm right. I'm not stupid enough to answer 'Jones' to the question, 'What was the name of the man who come to Japan with his Black Ships?'. I answered 'Perry' to that question. I got it right, but it says here that I answered 'Jones'. I can see right here that my answer was changed. She changed the answer on my test. And I'm just going to guess that isn't the only one she changed. Oh, how she makes me mad." Ryo was furious, and Shin could tell as he calmly replied,

"Well then if you've got proof, go to the principle and tell _him_ what's going on. Maybe _he_ can talk to her and get this straightened out."

"Do you think that will work?" Ryo asked .

"Well it's worth a shot isn't it? Besides, what could possibly go wrong?", Shin concluded, knowing full well that anything could happen, but choose to keep it to himself. Ryo was a little hesitant.

"I'm not sure, but I'll give it a shot. Tomorrow morning I'll go to the principle and tell _him_. Thanks for the advice Shin. Now, that's not what you called for. Did you want something?"

"I just wanted to know if you had that dream again. That's what I really wanted to know about."

"No I didn't have that dream. And to be honest, that scares me. What with what's happened and all. It's probably nothing, but paranoia." he knew there was more to it than that, but chose not to say anything to Shin. Shin on the other hand knew that if Ryo was worried, something bad was about to happen. However he chose to pretend not to notice. The two hung up a couple minutes later, and just as Ryo hung his phone back up, there was a knock at his door. Not expecting anyone, he slowly made his way to the door and peeped out the peephole to see one of his dearest friends. He unlocked the door and opened it.

"Touma. It's good to see you." he exclaimed as he admitted his friend into his little apartment. After Touma walked in Ryo locked the door once again, then turned to Touma, "Take a seat. I'll go get a couple of drinks. Caffeine free for you of course." he said before heading to the kitchen.

"Ha ha. Very funny Ryo." Touma said sarcastically, as he sat down on the couch waiting for Ryo to return. A minute later Ryo returned with two drinks in his hands.

"I wasn't expecting to see you, Seiji, or Shuu until tomorrow. You got here awfully fast." Ryo said as he handed Touma his drink.

"Well, in all honesty, our school is on vacation due to renovations. Why they had to renovate now is anybody's guess. But it helps me for a little while anyway." he took a sip of his drink, held to up to look at it, and just had to laugh a little, "This drink has caffeine in it. You gave me the wrong one Ryo." he laughed again. Caffeine kind of wound Touma up and made him hyper when they first lived with Nauste. But as with other things, the older Touma got, the less it affected him. The guys still teased him about it though. "Anyway, I figured, with my unusual sleep patterns, I'd better get here as soon as I could. Besides, isn't being early better than being late.", he stated as he pointed his pointer finger at the leader of the Samurai Troopers and laughed yet again. Ryo had to laugh at what happened before he agreed.

"Well you do have a point there Touma. Anyway I need to tell you something new. Lady Kayura and the Masho came here and told me and Shin that we would need to team up. They are at Nauste's as we speak." he had to stop talking as Touma choked, almost spitting out his drink. He was currently coughing. Once he had gotten his coughing under control, Ryo continued telling him everything that had happened the day before, but not before Touma set his drink on the coffee table so as not get choked again. After being bought up to speed, he agreed it had been a good idea for the Masho to stay at Nauste's.

If the Masho were with Nauste if and when something or someone attacked, she would be protected. After allowing them to stay with her, Naaza had apologized numerous times for what he had done to Yagyu-sensei when he was still bad. Nauste in turn had told him numerous times that he had been evil when he had killed her grandfather, and that, that was in the past. Ryo then added,

"Why don't I take you to Nauste's so you can get situated there." looking over at the duffle bag Touma had bought with him. Upon walking into Ryo's apartment, he had dropped it on the couch beside himself. "I don't want to seem rude by not asking you to spend the night, but the only place you could sleep would be the couch. Shin spent Saturday night here because he passed on the couch. I guess when you have to study for so many exams and you don't that much sleep, you don't really care where you pass out. It wasn't really comfy to sleep on. Shin was tossing and turning the whole time he was asleep. I don't want anyone else to sleep on the couch, unless it's absolutely nesassary." Ryo got up to walk to the table next to the door, and picked up a pair of keys from the little bowl top of the table.

"Chotto matte, Ryo. Since when do you drive?" Touma asked before smacking himself in the head with his left hand. "That was stupid. I forgot your birthday was two weeks ago and you got your lisence two days later. So much for being the Trooper of Wisdom, nee?", he spoke, with a smile on his face, he looked at Ryo, only to see the Trooper of Rightousness trying not to laugh. Touma picked up his duffle bag and drink and followed Ryo to the door. Once he was there, he waited for Ryo to unlock the door, open it and then walked out into the hall so Ryo could lock the apartment. Once the door was closed, the two of them went down stairs to Ryo's truck. The two loaded in and then proceded to head to Nauste's mansion. The next day the other two, Seiji and Shuu would be coming.

In the meantime neither Ryo or Touma knew they were being watched. The young woman form the day before was watching them on the surface of the water. While the tree she was standing under was casting shadows over her face, it was obvious she wasn't wearing the kimono, instead she was wearing an aquamarine sleveless shirt that was tucked into her knee length blue jean shorts and she was wearing blue steel toed work boots. But just because she was wearing different clothes, didn't mean that she was a different woman. Her voice was the same as the woman from yesterday as she spoke to herself,

"Huh, it looks to me like I too should be going to Tokyo. And make my presence known as well.", she waved her hand over the water and the images disappeared. She walked away and stared to walk back to town. After reaching town, she begins to her others talking about her. Only one of the comments catches her attention.

"There goes Mara, the biggest psyhcopath in all of Hagi." a young man says as she walks by. She turns toward him and it is revealed that 'Mara' is a very pretty young woman with short auborn colored hair, her hair is still long enough to be pulled up into a small ponytail on top of her head. She has beautiful light green eyes, her skin is fairly tan, her face is heart shaped, and she has an air of pride around her. Her eyes, although beautiful, are very sad looking. But she tries her best not to the think of what the man just said as an insult, and instead looks at him with a small evil looking smile and says to him,

"Well, who else would it be, but me, hmm?" she turns and continues to walk away. The man is very scared and conciders himself to be lucky. Mara wasn't in the mood to fight today and he wasn't about to press his luck. Mara chuckles to herself. Mara had better things to do. She has to be going, and she knows it or Shakalli could attack and the Samurai Troopers could be killed. So Mara has to get to Tokyo in a hurry.

Whew, that was a long chapter. Sorry, but I had to make sure to introduce one of the 'Cursed Maidens'. You'll understand why in a few chapters. And I'll also tell the story behind them a few chapters later. I'll try to update when I can, so please bear with me. Animefreak99-06 signing out.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's notes: Thanks to all who read my strange little story. (Author goes into deep bow.)And to those who reviewed this story, I'm going to try not writing in bold. And one final thing. This story isn't going to be a Nauste & Ryo love story. In fact none the Troopers or Masho will be paired off with Nauste. The pairings will be the Troopers and the 'Cursed Maidens'. You'll understand as the story goes on. Now the disclaimers. Disclaimers: I don't own Samurai Troopers. And I don't own Cardcaptors or Card Captor Sakura. I only own the following characters: Shakalli, Mara, Sakura, Akira, Kasumi, Soo-Yung, Fai(as in Faye), and the 'Old Woman. And now on with the chapter.

The Cursed Maidens

Chapter 4

Later on that Monday evening, Ryo and Touma are pulling into Nauste's driveway. As they get out of Ryo's trunk, they hear a loud roar coming from behind the mansion, and both start to grin. They walk up to the door, knock, and when no one answers, walk around to the back of the mansion. Once back there they see two of the Masho fighting against an unidentified fighter. They see that Kayura and Rajura are standing up next to the back wall watching the fight. Byakuen is standing next to them. However Nauste was nowhere in sight. Only then does it occur to Ryo and Touma, that the unidentified fighter that was fighting Nazza and Anubisu _is_ Nauste. The two start to help her, but were stopped in their tracks by Kayura holding the staff up to keep them back.

"No matter how you worry about her, she can defend herself very well. Apparently, one of you has taught her self-defense." Touma and Ryo turn to her to say something, but she cuts them off by continuing, "Don't worry, they are restraning them selves. It would not be fair to Nauste if they were to fight her with their full strength. We decided last night, to see just how skilled she is. She told us that she was learning to use a naginata, and we decided to help her train." she then raised her voice so Nauste could hear her, "NEE, NAUSTE? DIDN'T WE AGREE TO HELP YOU TRAIN?" there was a pause as Nauste had to dodge a swing from Nazza and then from Anubisu. Then Nauste, who was panting at this point yelled,

"HAI." she took a second to look at the new spectators that had gathered, before continuing, still panting, "THE MASHO...ARE HELPING...ME TRY AND...LEARN SOME...MORE SKILLS." she finished before just barely dodging a swing from Anubisu. She was so focused on him that she almost didn't notice Nazza coming up behind her. When she saw him coming at her, she barely had time to bring her naginata up to block, and she let out a startled scream as she tried to knock him away. She didn't have to as he backed away, sheathed his tachi and bowed. Anubisu, also deciding that was enough practice, also seathed his no-datchi, and bowed before her. Nauste, still panting for breath, pointed the blade towards the ground, and bowed to the two of them. Only then did Kayura retract her hand and let the Troopers hurry to Nauste's side. Once they had reached her side, she fell to her knees. Ryo turned to Nazza and Anubisu, and bowed to them.

"Thank you for helping Nauste. Although I thought that she was in danger, I noticed that the two of you took turns at attacking her, instead of attacking together. Sumimasen. I automatically thought back to when we were still enemies. I had no right to think that the two of you were still like that. I'm truly sorry." he said as he stood up and looked at the two former Masho. The two were smiling and then Nazza spoke,

"After everything we put you and the others through, hearing you apologize like that, is most definitely confusing and embarassing. You had every right to worry about Nauste. But, we would not hurt her after all the kindness she has shone us. And even if we did, the five of you would most likely return the favor.", as Nazza finished speaking, Kayura and Rajura joined the others. Then Anubisu began speaking,

"Nauste tried looking for the youja you saw in your dream, but when the search turned nothing up, she became aggitated. She said, and I quote, 'Dammit, I wish I could be more helpful to the Troopers. The last time I at least was able to help them by giving them information. Now I can't even help them with that. I feel almost useless.', unquote. She looked like she was going to cry. Lady Kayura asked her if there was anything else she could do. Besides giving information, providing shelter, and lending moral support. Nauste said, in a whisper, that she could fight enough to defend herself. We almost didn't hear her, which she probably did on purpose. But we heard her, and we decided to help train her, to help get her mind off of the lack of information.", he turned to Touma who was helping Nauste stand up. She was still panting, and had to keep her arm around Touma's neck to keep herself from falling back down. Somehow, she still hadn't let go of her naginata. Then continued, "And obviously, it worked. She was being humble when she said she wasn't very skilled. Either that or she was lying about how long she had been training with you Troopers. She is pretty good. For a normal human. And stubborn and opinionated like I'm sure the two of you already know. Nee?"

At this he suddenly had to turn away to keep from being given the 'evil eye' from the young history professor. Touma and Ryo looked at Nauste, saw that she was pissed of at the former Masho of darkness, looked back at Anubisu, and couldn't help but laugh at him and his flushed face. He knew that he had crossed a line. They knew however that he was right. When the two of them had argued about how to save their friends from Arago, she had been the one to set them straight. It was rare, but when it happened, she could scare even the Troopers with her anger. The Masho now had had the pleasure to witness the wrath of a 'normal' human woman. There was a loud roar and Ryo turned to Byakuen,

"Byakuen, I'm sorry. I seriously didn't mean to ingore you. I missed you buddy." he was kneeling on the ground, with his arms spread out to imbrace his friend, but Byakuen turned around and just stared at Ryo. Ryo in turn was a little upset at this and said,"What's wrong with you? I said I was sorry. What else do you want me to say? I truly did miss you." Ryo said with a look of sadness on his face. Byakuen decided that he had given Ryo the cold shoulder, went to Ryo, pushed Ryo back with his paws, and licked his face. After this was done, everyone started laughing at the picture of a very large cat trying to clean Ryo's face.

"Well, since every thing is okay here, I just have to say something to the four of you." Touma spoke up for the first time since he had arrived."And what I have to say is this. Nice clothes. You Masho know how to work those robes." he finished before laughing. This caused everyone, including the Masho, to snicker for a few seconds. Ryo had finally gotten Byakuen off of him. He turned his attention to the Masho, and saw that the Masho were still wearing the robes of the Ancient clan. An idea suddenly hit him and he got up off the ground.

"Why don't we take you to get some modern clothes. So that you will fit in better." Kayura was staring at him as if he was crazy, and Rajura, Nazza, and Anubisu were all looking at him with confusion on there faces. Touma was looking at him as if to say, 'Why didn't _I _think of that?', and Nauste, who was now able to stand up by herself, began smiling like a maniac."I mean that in case you have to..." Ryo stopped to look at the ground. He had had a feeling that they _might_ need to go to Tokyo and fight, But know he just _knew_ that would need to fight in Tokyo. He just couldn't tell everyone present that's what was going happen. He heard jingling moving towards him and he felt some on put a hand on the back of his right shoulder. He looked up to see Kayura standing there looking at him with a small smile, and she said,

"If you think we might need to go out into public, then we will need to get 'modern' clothes, so as not to draw attention to our selves." she gently squeezed his shoulder, and added a telepathic message to Ryo, _'I sense there is more to all this then you want to tell everyone, but I will not push you in to telling what is bothering you. You must tell everyone what is truly bothering you, but only when you feel you should. That is your choice, after all you are our leader. The leader of the Samurai Troopers, but you are also the leader of all nine yoroi. Remember that. And if you need help, tell me. I'll certainly help you keep the others in line.'_ With the final statement, Ryo couldn't help, but snicker. Then he looked at the others with a mischevious look on hs face.

"After Touma gets setteled in, the three of us are taking the four of you _shopping_.", he paused a second then laughed like a mad man. He turned around and followed Nauste and Touma back into the mansion. Kayura smiled at the Masho then followed the others.

"That was definately not like Rekka no Ryo. He...", was all Nazza could say about Ryo's sudden change in behavior. He and the other two were all very scared to say the least. A few minutes later the three of them were called inside. Once they were inside, Ryo and Touma made them change into different clothes. Less then forty-five minutes after Ryo and Touma's arrival, Nauste had three passangers in her jeep and Ryo had two passangers in his truck as the two vehicles were headed back to Tokyo. Two and a half hours later, three very exhausted, confused, and depressed Masho were being lead back to Nauste's jeep carring a couple boxes and a few bags each. While Kayura was completely cheerful and has humming an upbeat tune to herself carrying more than a few bags herself. Nauste, Ryo, and Touma were a little tired themselves, but they were happy to be able to get back at he Masho for what they did to the city the previous time they had attacked.

"I thought you said we were forgiven for what we did to you the last time we were here." a very furious Rajura almost yelled. Fortunately noone saw the little outburst, except on young woman with a beautiful black bracelet. She started to walk towards them slowly.

"We said we forgave you for what you did to us the last time you here. But we never you weren't going to be punished for what you did to the city. This is important for the four of you, but it is also punishment for the damage to the city." Ryo told him calmly. He heard someone walking towards him and looked up and stopped in his tracks. They other six stopped, looked at him, and then looked at the person walking towards him. Ryo almost passed out when he saw who it was walking towards him.

"Ryo-kun. It's so very good to see you again. It's been, what, eight years since we saw each other last." seeing the confused look on his face she said, "Nani? You don't recognize me? And after we were engaged for four years." The others looked at Ryo with wide eyes waiting for an explaination. His face went from confusion to recognition to shock. He smacked himself and then, "Sakura-kun. Is that you? I thought you looked like the drummer for the all girl rock band 'Dorama Jo'osama San'(Drama Queens Three). But then you said that we used to be..." he stopped realizing that he wasn't alone, and looked at the others. "Heh heh. Sumimasen. Sakura these are my friends. Yagyu Nauste, Hashiba Touma, and.." he paused in his introductions to think what he should call the others. They solved this for him.

"My name is Yamanouchi Naotoki, this is Kuroda Jirougorou, this is Sasaki Kujuurou, and this is uh, Minamoto Kayura." Naaza said as he went through the introductions for himself, Rajura, and Anubisu(respectfully) he had to make up a last name for Kayura only because he didn't know what her last name was, or if she even had one. After this Ryo finished the introductions

"That's right. And everybody this is my old friend, Hinata Sakura. We were friends when we were still in elementary school. And we used to say that the two of us were engeaed to be married. Our parents were very good friends and they said that we had their blessings. But we were only kidding about being married, so that no one would bother us at school. Nee, Sakura-kun?" Ryo turned to face Sakura to see her nodding and laughing. "Why don't we sit down?" he said looking back at the Masho. Everyone agreed and they all went to sit down on benches that were placed next to the park.

"Ryo-kun. I didn't think that you liked the big cities." Sakura said as she turned to face the other six. "When we lived in Yamanashi, we used to say that we didn't like the noise and commotion of the big cities. But I'm apparently wrong. It took me five years to get used to the big cities after moving in with my older cousin Mara in Hagi.(Notice anything strange about this statement?) Now me and Akira live close to Machida City.(?) He's glad to have a friend so close to him, so he can visit when he wants to. Oh, Akira is my twelve year old brother. So, Ryo what brings you and your friends shopping in Tokyo.", she said as she winked mischeviously at Ryo causing him to blush.

"We are shopping in Tokyo because we lost some of our clothes after traveling back to Tokyo. We really wanted to get some more clothes, thats all." Kayura said as she caused Sakura to look at her. She looked Sakura over, as she had been trained to do when she confronted a new enemy, and concluded that Sakura was a beautiful young woman. She had fairly tanned skin, she had beautiful brown eyes that seemed to know more than she let on. Her eyes went very well with her waist length black hair, which the top half was pulled in to a braid while the bottom half was hanging free. She was wearing an ankle length dark green skirt, light green button up shirt, ankle high black leather boots, and a long black leather jacket. And also that big black bracelet.

As Kayura looked Sakura over, she returned to her brown eyes, and noticed that, even though she looked like she was smarter than she let on, she seemed to look at everyone, especially Ryo, with an extreme sadness. When Sakura saw what she was doing, she shocked Kayura with a mental statement, _'The sadness that you see is not just mine. It is shared with four other women. The next time you meditate, ask the staff about the 'Cursed Maidens'. It will give you the answers you seek. Oh, and please don't tell the others until you have meditated. Please.'_

"Well, I guess I'll let you be on your way. I just wish you lived closer,Ryo. So I could come to visit, or you could visit." Sakura said as she stood up. Ryo stood up as well and said,

"Sakura, I live just eight blocks away from here. In an apartment. I moved here to attend high school here. Maybe someday soon, you and Akira can come visit. He was four the last time I saw him. And we could catch up on old times. Does that sound okay, Sakura?"

"Hai. That sounds very good, Ryo. Until then, sayonara." she exclaimed as she jogged away waving to him and the others.

"Sayonara, Sakura." Ryo hollored as he waved goodbye to his old friend. When he turned around, he saw four and a half pairs of eyes looking at him, with mischief in them. He laughed nervously as he looked at them. He notices that Kayura was the only one who was staring at the ground, upset about something and was playing with her pin.(Before they left the house she, had shrunk the shakujo to the size of a little four inch pin. And wore it on her jacket. Think the sword pin from the episode of Cardcaptors, sigh, that Rita wears, and then it returns to it's original size later on as she uses it to attack Sakura and Kero. Sorry)

Ryo looks at her curiously before he says, "Why don't we get back to Nauste's before midnight. It's 8:45 already. Come on, let's go." he turns to head back to his truck. The others get up, grab their things and follow him. Kayura looks up, sees the others gathering their stuff, grabs hers, and brings up the rear, her thoughts somewhere else. They all pile up in the two vehicles and drive back to the mansion. Sakura watches them as they leave. And has to wipe away a tear. Then walks away to go home, to get ready for her cousin's arrival.

And now two 'Cursed Maidens have been introduced. Tomorrow is a big day for the Troopers. Seiji and Shuu are coming to town. Mara is coming to town too. But will Shakalli be kind and let everyone catch up on their individual things, or will she attack the clueless Troopers? Find out in the next chapter, which should be out over the weekend. Ja na. Bye.


	5. Chapter 5

Konnichiwa, Minna-san. How is everybody? I'm sorry about making you wait. It's just that I was unable to focus solely on this story, but I'm here now. (Turns head to avoid the evil stares that are givin to her as she makes up a lame excuse.) On to the disclaimers. Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Troopers. I only own the following characters: Shakalli, Mara, Hinata Sakura and Akira, Kasumi, Yui, Soo-Yung and Fae, and the 'Old Woman'. And one final note. Since this is story is going to take place during late 1991, I'm going to TRY to refrence music and movies that might have been interesting during that year, and what might have been out in Japan from America at the time. If I mess up anything from that year, please write me and tell me. I wasn't even in Kindergarten when that happened, so I don't remember. And now, on with chapter 5.

The Cursed Maidens

Chapter Five

She had been sitting in her room since they had gotten home last night. After they had gotten home, she put her new 'modern' clothes away, grabbed a quick dinner, and went back to her room. Lady Kayura had needed to meditate on what Hinata Sakura had said the night before. She had asked the shakujo if it knew who these so called, "Cursed Maidens" were, and the shakujo is pleased to have been asked. She was shown an image of a woman, who looked more like a youja, she was wearing a beautiful dark blue kimono with a large, poofy skirt; a very pretty pentagon shaped dark green pendant; a beautiful black bracelet with an oval shaped stone on it on her left hand; a deadly, but sleek looking no-datchi still in its sheath; and finally, a stunning old fashoined hand mirror in the hand of the youja slowly being raised to reveal the face of of an evil looking female face with vampire like fangs protruding from the demon's mouth.

Lady Kayura is then shown an image of six young women slowly walking up to where the demon is. One of these young women, is carrying, what looks like the shakujo, but only as a sword. This woman is dressed in the robes of the Ancients, but doesn't want to cover her face, with a hat. The other five are dressed as five wealthy female warriors. The six of them look very determained to defeat, if not kill the youja. The leader, (who is possibly an Ancient, maybe not) calls out to the demon.

"Shakalli. You have killed numerous innocent people. We are going to stop your senseless killing, even if it kills us in the process." the leader declares before she draws her sword. Shakalli decides to turn around at the sound of the sword being drawn. Her smile disappears at the sight that greets her vision, she frowns, and her vampire teeth return to normal teeth. She looks over her enemies and tells them,

"For a group of fighters, you look like you have never even seen a battle from anywhere other than a window of a castle overlooking a field. But I do applaude you for bringing women to fight me. Men are weaker than women, and they do not last as long in a fight as women. They want to see women in the nude, left at the mercy of their men. Pathetic idiots. You will still be defeated though." she lifts her left hand and with her right hand (now the mirror is tucked into her obi), waves the right hand, the bracelet now becomes a fingerless gauntlet. She then withdraws her no-datchi with her left hand. (At the touch of her hand, the hilt of the sword begins to emit a black energy, the gauntlet also emits a dark energy which wraps around the energy of the hilt, containing it, allowing her to withdraw it.)

At this point, the other five seperate and surround Shakalli. Of the five, one of the warriors, is a swordswoman, and she charges at the youja. Shakalli blocks her swing and nocks her back against one of the boulders surrounding the fighters. The sword she had is know in several pieces. Kayura sees this and wonders why the woman with the shakujo sword allowed the others to fight, when she was the one who issued the challange. She turns to see said woman has planted the shakujo sword halfway into the ground, she is kneeling down to the top of the sword, and is making hand signs and quietly chanting. Kayura gasps as she realizes why she let the others attack the youja. To distract the youja from what the female Ancient is doing. Kayura hears a scream, turns, and sees another woman has been thrown into the boulders.

Two of the last three attack as one. The two of them are thrown back into the pile of two warriors, but the distraction has left the last warrior to nock her arrow, pull back on her bow, and release her arrow, which procedes in ripping a hole in the kimono, and revealing a strange mark on the youja's stamach. The youja is now very pissed off. But this is what the ancient woman has been waiting for. Just as Shakalli lunges for the archeress (female archer), the Ancient woman blocks Shakalli's sword swing with the shakujo sword. She very subtly nods her head and the five women, now all back on her feet, return to where they originally started fighting.

The Ancient woman says something that Kayura doesn't hear, and the other five women begin chanting the same thing the female Ancient said earlier. The Ancient backs up, and swings her sword, disarming her opponent. Shakalli seems to be paralyzed now, and her necklace is cut off of her neck. The gauntlet is struck, returns to a bracelet, and falls off Shakalli's wrist. The female Ancient uses her right hand to pull the hand mirror out of the obi that is around the kimono, and then the kimono is cut off of Shakalli.

Through the under kimono the strange mark is shown to be glowing. The Ancient than stabs Shakalli throught the stomach. When the other end comes out her back, it is pushing something that looks like a flat round stone out as well. Shakalli has blood coming out of her mouth, but as she is slowly dying she says,

"You will never be rid of me, you little pest. You are going to give one of my items...to each of your...little fighters. They will...pay for fighting against...me. Each of those...items is cursed. Th-th-they will get revenge...for me. They are m-m-meant to be held... by the el-l-l-l-ldest f-f-female of...of-f-f every g-g-g-generat-t-t-tion...fo any givin f-f-family...only. If h-h-held by any m-m-man...they will...s-s-slowly...go insane. And...one f-f-final w-w-word of...warning...anyone wh-wh-wh-who l-l-l-loves them...will...end up d-d-d-dying...as part of the c-c-c-curse...I p-p-placed on them. They will suff-f-f-fer. Just as you wi-wi-wi-will suffer for holding my p-p-p-power st-st-st-stone. Ha, ha, ha.Ugh.", she falls forward on the sword and her body evaporates. The Ancient woman can only stare as the youja has disappeared.

Kayura then sees flashes of the female Ancient giving the sword to the swordswoman. She is saying something, but Kayuar can't hear her. She sees the others recieving the other items, kimono, mirror, necklace, and bracelet. Then she sees what seems like centuries of misfortune and death occuring to the decendants of these five women. Until the faces of five young women appear before her. One of the faces she recognizes as Hinata Sakura. (Another face is that of Mara.) And she realizes that the faces she sees, are the 'Cursed Maidens' of this generation. Then she sees the yoroi of the four Masho, the new yoroi of the Samurai Troopers and the five young maidens fighting Shakalli together. She realizes this is the only way to defeat the youja.

Kayura feels a hand on her shoulder, opens her eyes, and sees the worried expressions of the Masho, Nauste, and Touma. She knows she must tell them.

"As soon as the others get here, I need to tell you what I just saw will meditating.", they nod and leave her room. Nauste lingers and asks,

"Lady Kayura, do you need anything to eat or drink? You've been here for almost fourteen hours since we got here at 10:15 last night." Kayura gives Nauste a little smile, and says,

"Arigato, Nauste-san. I think I'll be alright. But I really need to tell the others what I saw."

"Lady Kayura, it's just Nauste-_chan_, and the others should be here in four or five hours. We are going to meet Ryo and Shin at the bus station then. You can tell them when get them here. Nee?"

"Hai. I will tell them when they get here. Arigato, once again. And, I'll only call you Nauste-_kun_, if you call me Kayura-_kun_. Nee?"

"Kayura-kun, You have a deal.", Nauste says with a big smile on her face as she leaves.

Meanwhile in town (at the same time as this tiny discussion).Sakura and a young boy are at the bus station. The bus pulls up and lets the passengers off at this stop and pulls off again. Sakura and the boy wait patiently for their visitor. And sure enough, Mara walks up to them and smiles at them.

"It's been a long time since I saw you and Akira. Sakura, I should visit my younger cousins more often." she says as she hugs Sakura and Akira. The three of them turn around, walk over to Sakura's car, get in and Sakura drives them back to her home.

A few hours later, Nauste, Touma, and the four Masho are standing next to Ryo and Shin at the same bus station, as they wait for Seiji and Shuu to join them. Seiji is the first to get there, and that's only because he's driving his car. He gets out and greets everyone, only slightly disturbed to see the Masho. Then 15 minutes later, Shuu gets off his bus, and joins his friends. Information is exchanged and four vechicles pull off and head back to Nauste's mansion. It's been decided that, just like old times, everyone will stay at Nauste's for information exchanging.

And all the while, Shakalli looks at the group of armor bearers and the two gathered 'Cursed Maidens' with a humorous look on her face. She is going to enjoy seperating all of them and then killing them. She smiles revealing her fangs and looks on in amusement. Just they wait and see.

Gomen nasai, minna-san. I'm sorry. Each chapter I write, the longer the chapters get. I'm sorry I suck at fight scenes. And one last thing. I left Ryo's truck and Sakura's car unlabled. What should they be? They will be important in this story. And I left the female Ancient unnamed because even the first 'Cursed Maidens' didn't know her name. Well, Ja Na for now.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello everybody. Animefreak99-06 here. Sorry that this story is starting slowly. I'll try to make it more interesting, just as soon as I can. I want to make sure a few things are covered before I start writing fight scenes. If I can write a decent fight scene.Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Troopers. I only own the following characters: Shakalli, Mara, Hinata Sakura and Akira, Kasumi, Yui, Soo-Yung and Fae, and the 'Old Woman'.

The Cursed Maidens

Chapter 6

Everyone was shocked to say the least. Shortly after everybody arrived at the neutral zone that was Nauste's mansion, Ryo told everybody what he had learned. Apparently Ryo had another dream. This one involved Shakalli asking him where her power stone was. When he replied that he didn't know what she was talking about, she calmly replied, that when he did know, she would pay him another visit. And then he woke up. That was all there was to it. Then Kayura dropped a bombshell on everyone by telling what she had learned. There were a lot of gasps, gulps, and then silence. Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was only ten minutes, Nauste was the first to say something.

"You say that the women Ryo saw in his dream, are known as 'The Cursed Maidens'. So how did you find out what to ask about, Kayura-kun?" all eyes turned to face Kayura. She had purposely kept the fact that Hinata Sakura had told her from everyone especially Ryo, but she needed to be honest. So she just blurted out,

"The young woman from last night, named Hinata Sakura. She told me telepathically who she was." Kayura had to stop at this as Ryo was now chocking on his tea. After he had gotten it under control, she continued, "Ryo, you didn't know about any of this? You know her the best out of us. Ummm, do you think that she would lie about, this?" Ryo shook his head, took a deep breath, and then spoke.

"Sakura is a lot of things, but not a liar. I know, or rather I remember, when we were younger, she would talk to me telepathically. She would be right next to me, my eyes would be wide open, her mouth would be closed, and she would be talking to me as if she were using her mouth. If Sakura told you, it's probably true. She would joke around, but when it came down to being serious, she would not lie. And even if she were lying, how did she know what to tell you what to look for?" Ryo said as he looked at Kayura. Kayura had to answer questions now.

"Ryo, arigato. If she didn't know about this, I wouldn't have seen her face in my dream. After I was shown what happened to Shakalli and the female warriors, I saw the faces of the decendants of those women. The last faces I saw showed five young women, each one had a 'Cursed Item', and Sakura was one of those five woman. Now that we have that straightened out. We have to figure out where this 'power stone' is. Why did she ask you where it was?"

"Beats the hell outta me, Lady Kayura. But for some reason, I feel I should know about this. Like, I heard something about that stone when I was really little." Ryo lowered his gaze to the table before he said anything else, "Like I heard about it from my mom, before she died." Ryo continued to gaze at the table while the others gave him a moment of quiet. Shuu however was the first to break the peace.

"Ryo, you say that you knew this woman when you were young, nee? How did you two become friends?" Ryo looked up to see Shuu trying to take Ryo's mind off of his mom, but it didn't work like he had wanted.

"I first meet Sakura and her parents at my mom's funeral." he paused in his story telling, and heard Shuu curse himself under his breath. "Something like her mother was my mother's best friend. She talked to me, and for some reason, she became my friend. We were best friends til she had to move away. She was twelve the last time I saw her." Ryo paused again, only to get very serious. "If memory serves me correctly, her parents were killed in a freak hunting accident. After that, twelve year old Sakura and her four year old brother Akira, went to stay with their only remaining blood relative, Harada Mara, in Hagi." at this he looked at Shin to see him tightly clenching his fists and gritting his teeth at the mention of Mara. Naaza took notice of this and couldn't let this slide past him.

"So, who was she? A girlfriend who took advantage of you?" Naaza had to stop talking when Shin beat his fists on the table and stared him down with his normally calm blue eyes. Shuu, Touma, and Nauste were the only ones who had ever seen Shin this furious. Everyone else, Naaza included, had yet to face Shin's wrath, and thus could only gasp at this sudden change in behavior. Shin somehow was able to regain control. As he took deep breaths to calm himself down, he slowly began to explain,

"Harada Mara is the biggest psychopath in Hagi. She is always looking for a fight, usually starting fights _just_ so she can fight. She has _always_ had a thing against me. It started with the name calling and shoving, then it progressed into pranks, and recently the last time I was in Hagi, she challanged me to a fight. I refused and the next thing I know, she has her knife out trying to slash my throat. I went into a defensive stance, she puts her knife away and charges. We were fighting at least five minutes, when she laughs to herself, and just walks away. I'm like Ryo and his history teacher. Mara is insane. Argh, she is the only person who can _piss_ me off like that _everytime_ I run into her on the street. And no she wasn't my girlfriend. I can't stand her, or her attitude."

"No wonder you got riled when I asked you what she meant to you, Shin. I apologize, for even implying anything like that. Now, putting that aside. Ryo, has your _friend_, Sakura always had this damn bracelet?" Naaza asked cautiously after turning to face the leader of the Samurai Troopers.

"Well, uh, let me think." there was a pause in his statement as he thought, then he said, "Come to think of it, Sakura's mother had that bracelet, until, maybe a week before the deaths of her and her husband. Funny how you mention that. Hey, Lady Kayura, you said that you saw the faces of this generations 'Cursed Maidens', nee? Do you think that you could show us their faces? Maybe we know who they are." Ryo said excitedly. Rajura was the next to speak up.

"You could just show me, and I can show the others, if you don't know wether you can do it or not. We really don't need you to strain yourself, icase we need your power." everyone nodded their heads. Kayura stood up, walked over to Rajura, and lifted the top of the shakujo to his forehead. It glowed brightly for less then a minute, and once it stopped, Rajura, without summoning his sub-armor, used his abilities as an illusionist to show everyone in the room what he had just seen. Seiji, Shuu, and Nauste gasped. And as soon as it appeared, the illusion disappeared. Shin was able to confirm that its was Mara in that illusion, just as Ryo was able to confirm that Sakura was among the faces shown. Seiji took a deep breath before stating,

"I know who the swordswoman is. Her name is Himeko Kasumi. I know her as the first woman who fought in a competition and won. If she is as good as I think she is, she's deadly."

"I know one of those women. The one with the hand mirror. Her name is Ling Soo-Yung. Her parents moved their family from China about thirteen years ago. And she is my fiance." a loud collective gasp could be heard. Before any questions could be asked, Shuu said, "I'll only tell you this, and that's all. We were engaged to be married a week after I turn 18. Just four days after hers. I only found out about it two months ago, thats why I didn't tell everybody, it was so sudden. Arranged marriage. Oh, well." Everyone just stared at Shuu for a minute before Touma spoke up.

"I don't know her personally, but I know who she is. She's a scientist named Arashi Yui. The daughter of sportswriter, 'Professor Arashi Keno'.", four pairs of jaws dropped. Nauste and the four Masho had no clue who this 'Professor Arashi Keno' guy was, but they decided to keep quiet. However, Nauste had to add something before being quiet.

"Touma, Yui-san isn't _just_ a scientist. Arashi Yui is the youngest professor at Osaka's best University. She's 19, but she is already a professor at the school." now it was Touma's jaw that dropped.

The conversation became lighter and continued into the night. Shin and Ryo had told their teachers that they would be absent for a few weeks, and hoped that they would not be flunked out of their classes. Again everyone was unaware that they were being watched. This time Mara was sitting in front on a water basin, and Sakura and Akira were there to watch the images as things went on. There was a knock from down stairs, which caused Akira to get up and go down stairs. When he came back upstairs, there were two young women with him.

"Kasumi-san, that's the last time I let you talk you into letting ride on your Kawasaki motorcycle with you. We were going over the speedlimit at least four times between Osaka and here." stated a beautiful brown eyed, purple haired young woman. Said woman looked like she was about fourteen or fifteen. She had her hair cut shorter than Mara's. She had a playful expression on her oval shaped face. Her skin was pale compared to Mara's, or even Sakura's. She was dressed in a purple shirt with navy blue stripes going across the front, a navy blue knee length skirt, and wore dark blue high heels. Under her shirt a pentagon shape and chain could be made out. And she was wearing a long white lab coat, with a name tag on the front pocket. Turning her attention to the three people who were at the basin, she asked, "So, what did we miss?" Sakura and Akira looked at her and tried not to laugh.

"Oh, you two just missed Lady Kayura telling the others about the origin of the cursed maidens. That's about all." Sakura said as her friend let out a mock gasp, then pretended to get mad.

"Damn. We always miss the good stuff, nee, Kasumi-san?" Yui asked her friend.

"Hai. We always miss the _good stuff_, Yui-san. Mara-san would it be possible to show us what we missed? Please?" Kasumi sat down on her feet and bowed before the woman who was showing the images at the basin. Mara looked up from where she was using her unique form of water fortune telling. She looked at Kasumi and thought. Kasumi looked up and saw Mara looking at her, but said nothing.

Kasumi has wear ing a dark green, form fitting, leather jacket, dark blue, blue jean pants, black leather lace up boots, and black fingerless gloves. Kasumi usually wore light colors, unless she was riding her motorcycle. Attached to her waist was a black belt that was attached to the scabbard of her no-datchi. Her long black hair went past her waist, and went well with her tanned skin and green eyes. Mara said,

"Usually I would say no to you. But Yui wants to see it too. So, just this once, I'll let you see it again. Now step closer to the basin." and both Yui and Kasumi steped up to the basin.

Sorry I did it again. I really got carried away with explaining what the 'Cursed Maidens' looked like, but I thought you would want to know. If I'm boring you to tears, just write me and tell me. But please be nice. Til next time.


	7. Chapter 7

Gomen-nasai, Minna-san. I was writing this story, when the idea for 'The Path of a Leader' popped into my head. Now for everyone who wanted me to continue with 'Cursed Maidens', here's chapter seven. Disclaimers: I don't own Samurai Troopers. I just own the following characters: Shakalli, Harada Mara, Hinata Sakura and Akira, Himeko Kasumi, Ling Soo-Yung and Fae, Arashi Yui, and the 'Old Woman'.

Cursed Maidens

Chapter 7

Blood. That's what he saw. Blood coming from himself and his comrades. He saw all nine of the armor bearers. The four Masho in their original armors and himself and the others in their new armors. And from every where he saw, all nine of them were bleeding. Even Lady Kayura was injured. And Byakuen looked like he had been put through the ringer as well. Shakalli looked bored, as though this fight was just a waste of her time. The eight male armor bearers attack at once, giving Kayura just enough time to gather her power in the shakujo. After the others have attacked, Kayura releases her power in a ball of light, to join with the combined attacks of the others. The blast hits it's initial target. And all that can be seen now is a big cloud of dust and smoke.

Everyone is panting and gasping for breath. Kayura's eyes widen, almost to the point of popping out of her head. Shakalli is still standing there only forty or fifty yards from them. Untouched by the attack. Only slightly furious about what they did. They all are starting to panic, they know that they're dead. And sure enough, she attacks. And the next thing he knows, he is sitting up in his bed screaming. He sits there for a couple of seconds before he is brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his bedroom door being slammed against the wall.

"Ryo, daijobu ka?" he looks up to see Seiji standing next to his bed, his pale blue eyes filled with worry. Ryo looks to see Shin has turned the overhead light on. Shin and the others join Seiji in standing near Ryo's bed. Byakuen standing beside Seiji. Lady Kayura and the Masho are standing around his bed as well. Even Nausti is standing at his doorway. He takes a deep breath.

"That all depends." and then procedes in telling them what he has just dreamt. Everyone remains quiet because of this statement. Rajura is the only one who seems to want to say anything though.

"Ryo, you seem to have very vivid dreams. Have you always had such dreams?"

"Uhhhhh. Well, I've had these kinds of dreams since I was little. But they only became more intense after I received my yoroi orb." Ryo says before being bought out his thoughts by a loud roar emitting from Byakuen. A noise is heard outside and everyone looks out the doorway to the balcony. Ryo throws his covers back and hastily gets out of bed. Touma has run to the balcony doorway and opened the doors. A strange shadow passes by it and another noise is heard, similar to the one that they heard only seconds earlier. The sound of a scream. Ryo reaches toward the nightstand to grab his yoroi orb. Seiji, Shuu, Touma and Shin turn to run to their rooms to get their orbs, and the Masho try to retrieve the orbs in their possession. Unfortunately, none of them make it to their destinations. Ryo and everyone else are unable to more. Ryo is barely two inches from his orb as he and the other eight are frozen in place. They hear a laugh and know it is Shakalli. _Uh oh, we're in serious trouble now._ Ryo thought to himself as she appeared in front of them laughing.

"Sanada Ryo, have you had a chance to remember the location of the power stone? If not, I can always just kill your little friends right here and now. And you know I can. Choose wisely." she said as she walked towards him. He realizes that he can't speak either. _Dammit, why the hell does she keep bothering me about that power stone? I honestly don't know where it is, so why does she keep asking me about it. _She stops less then a foot away from him. "That's not a wise choice. You **do** know where it is, so stop lying." she picks up Ryo's orb of the nightstand and is now rolling it around in the palm of her right hand. A small amount up dark energy is barely seen coming from her hand and Ryo begins to feel sick to his stomach. "The pain you feel now is nothing compared to the pain I can, and probably will, inflict upon you and your friends. The bearers of the yoroi will most likely be able to with stand the pain, but what about the young woman standing at your doorway? Hmmm? Or the tiger here. What amount of pain will they be able to withstand before they die, painful deaths? One last chance. Blow this, and you'll have to watch as I kill every single one of your friends."

"Dammit, I keep telling you **I don't know where it is**. I don't even know why you're asking me in the first place." Ryo can now speak and can move, barely mind you, but he can still move. Shakalli giggles to herself before speaking.

"I'm asking you because you are the only one who knows where it is hidden. After all, your **mother** was the one who had possession of it last. I just thought that she would tell her only child where she hide it." At the mention of his mother, Ryo's expression went from frustration to sadness, then to shock. Everyone in his room looked at him with varying degrees of surprise. Shakalli giggles again before continuing. "But if you truly don't know where it is, I guess I'll just have to kill all of you right here and now." And with that, she tightens her grip on Ryo's orb.

Ryo immediately starts to feel like he is being suffocated. He tries to breathe only to feel a pressure like a hand tightening around his throat. The others try to move to help Ryo, but they are still frozen. Seiji starts to feel Ryo's pain, because of his empathy, and he too finds it difficult to breathe. Nausti can see the pain written on their faces and wants to help them, but chooses to stay outside the room because of Shakalli. Ryo's face starts to turn blue from the lack of oxygen, yet he can see that Shakalli is slowly chocking Touma. Shin, and Shuu through the yoroi's link. Kayura is trying very hard to break the hold Shakalli has over them, but the more she struggles, the more pain seems to fill her body.

Just when the others think she is going to kill them, a strange light appears behind Shakalli. Seiji, although starting to blackout, sees the light is really an aura. The aura takes the form of a young looking woman. The aura appears and reforms within three seconds, not enough time for Shakalli to react. The form takes this opportunity to kick Shakalli's right hand, thus breaking Shakalli's concentration. Ryo's orb is knocked loose and Ryo can finally breath. As Ryo begins to take big gasps of air he slips down to his knees. He notices the others are free as they stumble after being released. Less than a second after that Ryo notices the young woman now has Shakalli' s full attention.

"And finally, the fifth 'Maiden' has revealed herself. I have to admit, you caught me off guard. But, this ability to astral project a near replica of yourself, has just left your real body unguarded. Your in trouble now, Ling Soo-Yung." At the mention of that name, Shuu looks up and sees his fiance standing in front of Shakalli with her hands held to the side of her slightly turned body, palms open, anticipating a fight.

"Hai, you are right, Shikarri. Demo, my leettle seasta is protecting it with her life." Soo-Yung replies with her **obvious** accent. (Trans: Yes, you are right, Shakalli. But my little sister is protecting it with her life.) The young woman looks to be about four inches shorter than Shuu. She has a serious look on her diamond shaped face. Her eyes are sparkling like two small polished pieces of amber. She's wearing a orange-reddish colored Manderin style button up shirt, with the buttons going up the middle, and matching calf length pants. Blue-purple flats are on her feet. But the most distingushing thing about this tan skinned woman, is her knee length light pink hair, that just happened to be pulled back into two braids. Shuu took one look at the woman and just asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"How the hell, did you do **that** Soo-Yung?"

Uh-oh. I left everyone with a cliff hanger. Sorry, I really wanted to finish this chapter, but couldn't figure out how to do it, so I just stopped it there. If you don't like it, just write me. But please, don't be too, upset, I'm really sorry. So until next time, this is Animefreak99-06 signing out.


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